A fashion upgrade—or just plain defacement? TikTok viewers are flipping out over a viral video showing an artist spray-painting a Louis Vuitton trunk worth thousands of dollars, seemingly destroying the luggage. But there’s a twist: The artist is a Louis Vuitton employee.
Ariana and Sean, known as @louisvuittonartists on TikTok, posted the short video. In it, a gloved hand applied black spray paint to a classic piece of the brand’s luggage.
@louisvuittonartists Paint it black 🖤 #diy #diyproject #louisvuitton #monogram #logomania #lv #lvartist #artis ♬ original sound – Kylie Jenner
“When you wanted a Louis Vuitton Trunk but not the monogram,” the account wrote via text overlay.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Ariana and Louis Vuitton via email. As of Tuesday morning, their video had over 1.4 million views, with most viewers perplexed as to why the duo would want to ruin—and potentially devalue—the trunk.
“But… don’t you pay the thousands… specifically for the monogram? The brand?” one user asked.
“The price value also dropped by this,” another asserted.
“What’s the point getting it?” a third person questioned.
“There goes a 50k trunk,” a fourth viewer wrote. To this comment, the @louisvuittonartists account responded, “It’s worth more now.”
They may be telling the truth. According to the TikTok’s account information, Ariana and Sean are a designer duo based out of Beverly Hills, California. Ariana’s website said that she is an editorial and graphic designer for Louis Vuitton.
Moreover, in a follow-up video, Ariana said that the spray paint wouldn’t devalue the item. “Just because a product isn’t covered in monogram, that doesn’t make it any less of a Louis Vuitton product or less valuable,” she wrote.
Indeed, the duo likely knows what they’re doing. Many of the videos posted by the @louisvuittonartists account shows Ariana in the process of painting designs on pieces of Louis Vuitton luggage—essentially using the trunks and cases as her canvas.
